


On the Edge of the Black

by Mareel



Category: Firefly, Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Episode: s01e13 Heart of Gold, Episode: s03e18 Azati Prime, Episode: s03e21 E2, F/M, Families of Choice, Future Fic, Loss, M/M, Post-Season 4, Post-Serenity, Pregnancy, Time Travel, Walk Into A Bar, Widowed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 16:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2629169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mareel/pseuds/Mareel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonathan Archer walks into a bar and meets... Zoë Washburne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Edge of the Black

**Author's Note:**

> This Enterprise/Firefly crossover takes place post-"Serenity" in the Firefly 'verse, which is 360 years in Jonathan's future. Jonathan and Malcolm have an established relationship. Reference is made to "Azati Prime", "E2", and "Heart of Gold".
> 
> Written for the prompts: widow, found families, into a bar

 

________________________________________________

 

How the hell did I let myself get talked into this? Walking into a seedy bar on an unremarkable planet to make contact with someone whose name I don't even know. Almost three hundred sixty years in my future.

I hadn't seen or heard from Daniels since _Enterprise_ returned to Earth from the Expanse. He seemed to think, at that point, that his business with me was done. And I can't say I was sorry to hear that. He'd already told me more about my future - and the future of a Federation that I am supposed to help found – than any man really needs to know in advance. As a Temporal Agent, that sort of thing was apparently routine business for him, but I'm still not comfortable with time traveling, despite having done it more than once. 

So now there's another critical mission that he swore I was the only person he'd trust to carry out. I'm still not sure why he couldn't do it himself, but he said there were reasons. 

He was vague about exactly where I'd be going, telling me only that it was in Human space, and warning me that the people I'd meet had never encountered any alien species despite their interstellar travel and colonization efforts. So I am to be discreet... another word for vague about my own origins. 

The bar is dimly lit, but as my eyes adjust I can see that it's also almost empty. The barkeep is cleaning glassware and tending to one customer seated at the bar and a couple of others scattered among the small tables lining the walls. A larger central table – maybe a gaming table – is deserted. I'll just try the bar. Maybe I can get some information along with a drink. 

"I'll have a beer please... what you have on tap?"

The barkeep sets aside the towel he was using to dry glasses, and ambles closer to where I'm seated. "You ain't from around these parts, are you now?"

I'm not sure what betrayed that so quickly, but I can improvise. "I'm just passing through, looking to meet up with someone. And if you don't mind my asking, how'd you get that idea from my ordering a beer?"

He shrugs, nodding toward the short row of taps. "Most folks know there ain't much of a choice about what to drink here. Too far out on the Rim. There's local ale – its main virtue being that it's available. I'll pour you a pint, unless you want to pay too much for a bottle of some _xiong mao niao_ import."

"The local brew will do, thanks." I don't understand a word of what might pass for Chinese, but it brings to mind a time when I asked Hoshi what some Klingon was saying to me. She told me I didn't want to know. 

It's barely drinkable, but I'm not really here on a pub-crawl. What I need now is information. "I was supposed to meet someone here..." I glance toward the back of the room and the few patrons there. "Has anyone been asking about doing the same? Might be another traveller, maybe someone from a ship."

"Nope, not that I'm in the matchmaking game, you understand. Peoples' business is their own out here. But my shift just started an hour or so before you walked in. Could maybe have been more traffic before that. You might ask someone else. Like that woman at the back corner table... I reckon she's been here awhile now." He lowers his voice. "And she ain't drinkin' much. Just tea is all, since I've been here, so she's likely sober. She might have seen it if someone else was here nosin' around."

I thank him, and take my beer with me as I move toward the back tables, leaving a generous tip behind in thanks for his information. I've no idea how Daniels acquired the local currency that he provided me with, but it beats robbing a cash dispenser as I had to do on the last time-shifted mission Daniels sent me on. Then again, this planet probably doesn't even have those, so I'd have been pretty well out of luck with no cash on me.

The table nearest to her is vacant, so I take a seat there, nursing the beer. It could use some kind of chips or nuts or something to go with it, but I don't see any food on offer. And I'm not quite sure how to open a conversation. I don't want this woman to think I'm trying to pick her up. But after a few minutes, she saves me the trouble.

"You're looking for someone? Long ways from anywhere for that. Don't look so surprised. I hear pretty good, and like he said, not many strangers turn up here." She shrugs a bit before adding, "And I like to keep an eye on what all's around me."

I relax at that, smiling. "You sound like my partner. He works security, and there's no off-the-job for him."

"Could be you're right, mister... I didn't catch your name?" 

"I'm sorry. It's Jon. Jon Archer. And you are?"

She hesitates for a moment, sizing me up and coming to some conclusion. "Zoë."

The confidence in her voice wavers a bit, and I see her twisting at the band on her finger before she continues.

"Zoë Washburne."

Since it seems she's not going tell me to get the hell away from her, I turn my chair enough to see her more clearly. She's a striking woman, tall even when seated, dressed in well-worn leathers, wearing a pendant that she has a habit of touching. And she's definitely pregnant. Which would explain the tea. 

"Well, you overheard correctly, Zoë. I'm looking to meet up with someone here, but I don't have a name. Or a description, other than it's probably someone who has a ship of some sort. I was told that this would be a good place to start looking."

Zoë shakes her head. "Ain't seen no one like that. Been here awhile now... waiting on somebody too. But could be he won't show up." Another shrug of her shoulders. "Wouldn't surprise me none. It's hard to find good work... thought this could maybe be a lead."

I take another small sip of the sour beer. "What line of work are you in?"

Another long pause... perhaps considering how much she should trust me. "I've been a lot of things... a soldier mostly, before my Sergeant talked me onto his ship after the war. Making cargo runs, carrying passengers... whatever keeps us flyin'."

I'm trying to put things together in my mind – the military background matches with her hyperawareness of her surroundings. And mention of a ship intrigues me. I risk a bit of trust of my own.

"I've served on ships as well. Sometimes the missions got a lot more military than I signed up for. I'm really just an explorer at heart."

That seems to touch something in her. She breaks eye contact and her hand drifts to rest protectively on her belly. Finally she replies. "My husband was the explorer... gorram fine pilot too."

I don't miss the past tense. I don't want to pry, but this could be important. It would be like Daniels not to tell me whether I was looking for a man or a woman. Maybe _she's_ the person I'm supposed to meet here. Hell, maybe he set her up to meet someone here. I wouldn't put it past him.

"What happened... if you don't mind my asking?"

For the first time since we've been talking, she reaches for her cup of tea, swirling it in the shabby mug, wrapping her fingers around it like she's looking for a warmth that's probably long faded.

"If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. But I've been told I'm a good listener."

The dark eyes she raises to meet mine hold a profound sadness. "He got himself killed. We was deep involved in some ugly business... not Wash though. He was just flying the ship... just flying... gorram _kuh wu_ bastards." 

"I'm so sorry... that's a terrible loss."

She pauses, collecting herself in a way that speaks of having done it too often. "Time to change my line of work. I don't want this baby to grow up livin' in that kind of danger all the time. Wash didn't want that... thought it was no time to bring a helpless tiny person into the world. But I wanted his child so bad." She gazes down at her belly and her voice drops to almost a whisper. "Never did get to tell him..."

Needing to veer away from the raw intensity of her pain, I take a slightly different tangent. "So you're looking to leave your ship. Going to live planetside? Do you have relatives who might help you raise your child?"

She shakes her head. "Nobody dirtside. On _Serenity_... on my ship... those people are family. But what the hell kind of life is that for a child? Flying all over the 'verse doing whatever work we can get, generally just one hard burn ahead of them as wants us dead."

Impulsively, I reach across the space between us and touch her hand very lightly. "I think it could be a good life. Not to discount the danger, but growing up surrounded by people who care about you... it does sound like a family to me. When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was fly a ship, see the stars. I was lucky – my dad understood that kind of longing, even encouraged it. Maybe your child will have those kinds of dreams too. It would be a shame to be planetbound and alone... those dreams could seem pretty far out of reach."

"Do you have children, Captain?"

I'm startled into silence. Did she just call me _captain_? Quickly deciding to ignore that, I answer her question. "No, not yet. Not exactly. Maybe not ever." I scrub a hand down my face and take a bigger gulp of my drink than I really wanted. "Damn, I can't even give you a straight answer, can I?"

Zoë gives me the first hint of a smile I've seen from her. "No, sir. You're not talking much sense there. _Not exactly_?' My mama always told me one thing about havin' babies. You're either pregnant or you're not. There ain't no in-between about having a child. Maybe it's different for men somehow?"

I shake my head. "No, no different. Malcolm and I have talked about it some, but the time has never felt quite right. And there's the whole 'kids on a starship' issue for us too."

She seems unconcerned that my partner is male. I hadn't really considered that attitudes might not be too tolerant here when I named him. But she is persistent. "You're still not explaining the _not exactly_ part."

This is going to get complicated. But I'm becoming more sure by the moment that it's important that she stay on her ship, that her child grow up there... maybe even become a pilot like her late husband was. Maybe help the Federation win an important battle that Daniels once showed me – a battle with the Sphere Builders of the Delphic Expanse. There had been a key moment in that battle, Daniels told me, where a very small, unknown Human ship had entered the battle zone, doing some fancy flying, and it provided enough distraction to allow the __Enterprise J__ a clear shot at the enemy vessel. 

I can't tell her any of that. But the timing would be right for her child to be that pilot in twenty-five years or so. So I'll share as much as I can about myself.

"It's complicated, Zoë. Bear with me. This is going to sound pretty impossible." I take another sip of the foul beer, wishing it was bourbon. 

"I don't know how you know or guessed, but yes. I captain a starship."

"Thought as much. The captain thing... it don't come off with the uniform."

"Interesting. I never thought of it that way. I guess I'm not much of an actor. But I owe you some explanations. Once, in the middle of a battle, my ship was pulled into a temporal loop - shifted over a hundred years into the past with no way out except to let time pass. 

"My people on that ship had to take a long view, had to raise children and grandchildren in the hope of one day meeting up with their non-shifted counterparts to help finish a mission with them. They did it. When we encountered them in the normal timeline, they prevented the cycle from repeating itself." I pause, giving her a moment to take it in before getting to my real point.

"I met my great-granddaughter on that ship."

To her credit, she doesn't dismiss it as crazy-talk. "That must have been some meeting, sir."

"Please, it's just Jon, okay? And yes, it was. But it started me thinking about a lot of things, about choices I've made, things I've done... and things I haven't done yet."

"Do you stay in touch with her?"

She's touched a lingering sadness in me. "No. Karyn's ship never made it out of the vortex where they were trapped. Both our vessels were under attack and her ship covered for mine so that we could escape. I never saw her again. I like to hope she lives, somewhere."

"That's quite a story. I don't know how as it's possible, but I ain't no scientist. I'm just a soldier. My job is to protect my Captain. God knows he needs it, even without running headlong into some _tian fan di fu_ time-thing."

I have to smile. "You sound like Malcolm - my partner. He's made it his personal mission to protect me. I can't imagine not having him at my side, covering my back." 

Her eyes are downcast and I wait till she looks up at me again before continuing. "Maybe your Captain feels the same way about having you to watch his back. Have you thought about what your leaving might do to him? Your crew is already missing somebody important. If you go that leaves an even bigger emptiness. Just knowing what you've told me, it sounds like you're needed just where you are. And your child would grow up surrounded by family, by love. Sure, having children aboard might color what jobs you end up doing. But that's not all bad."

Her voice has grown very quiet. "Been too many losses already..."

Thinking back on my encounter with that other _Enterprise,_ I still don't know how they survived all those years – families thriving on a starship in what must have become an increasingly hostile territory as they drew closer to my own time, with it's Xindi crusade against Earth and humanity.

As I pause to give Zoë some room for thought, another question occurs to me. "Among the rest of your crew... are there relationships, besides friendships?"

She nods slowly. "Looks to be so... plenty of sexin' but no babies to show for it yet. Could happen though, wouldn't be no big surprise. Wash wanted us to wait. But I told him once that I ain't so afraid of losing something that I ain't gonna try to have it. Just a few months more now... "

"So maybe you'll consider staying where you are? The memories surrounding you there must hurt like hell, but they might be a comfort too. I don't think you should be in too big a hurry to leave everyone behind. Take you time about thinking on it, Zoë."

I had reached out to touch her hand again as she spoke, and this time she gripped mine tightly for a moment. "I will. _Serenity_ 's been my home. Could be my baby's home. Folks might recollect Wash, tell crazy stories about him and his toy dinosaurs all over his gorram console and such. Might hurt to hear... but better than all of them being scared to say his name in front of me."

"It sounds like he was a good man and he'll be missed for a long time. But seeing his child around might help everybody heal some."

She nods slowly, and then stands to go. "Ain't nobody showin' up here that I need to talk to. It's a lot to think on, but I'll do that. And you too... don't you forget how fast life can turn round on itself. If you want to do something, just do it. You might not get no tomorrow."

I stand as well, and hesitate only a moment before gently enfolding her in my arms for a long moment. She might not be the type to need that, but her strength and loneliness tug at my heart. 

"You take care of yourself, Zoë. And look after that baby of yours... and your Captain. You're right about life being fragile, no matter where we are."

A few minutes after watching her make her way out of the bar, I leave as well, looking for a secluded spot from which to contact Daniels. 

"Get me back home, Daniels. Your mission is accomplished."

And I need to talk with Malcolm.

________________________________________________

 

**Author's Note:**

> Approximate Chinese translations: 
> 
> _xiong mao niao_ \- panda piss  
>  _kuh wu_ – despicable  
>  _tian fan di fu_ – complete disarray or sheer pandemonium; literally "sky tumbles while earth turns over."


End file.
